Until Republicans “start acting like adults” to solve the budget crisis, Texas families will continue to suffer, Texas Democratic Party Chairman Gilberto Hinojosa said in a Friday conference call with reporters.

Hinojosa pointed to a number of ways Texans would be affected by sequestration cuts, from education to the military. He said the budget cuts don’t just impact the families of the furloughed, such as the 20,000 civilian workers at the San Antonio Lackland Air Force Base who will receive 22 furloughed days, but also their communities.

Chairman Gilberto Hinojosa ( Melissa Phillip / Houston Chronicle )

“This affects not just them but the people who depend upon the expenses these families make after they receive their paychecks, like restaurants and other businesses that do business with families being furloughed,” he said.

Hinojosa also said consequences of the cuts could be felt years later if programs like the Head Start program in Cameron County, where he lives, cannot give as many children a strong educational foundation because of the program’s $1 million in cuts. And all because Republicans won’t come to the table.

“It’s a foolish approach that has nothing to do with the reality of cutting the budget deficit but everything to do with ideologies,” Hinojosa said.

But these brash attacks on Republicans fail to recognize the efforts being made in Congress, said Republican consultant Matt Mackowiak.

“Hinojosa has made series of indecent statements about Republicans in the past that don’t provide any insight into public discourse,” he said. Hinojosa, who became chairman in June 2012, has previously made comments questioning the heritage of Sen. Ted Cruz.

Mackowiak said the comments also don’t take into account the tough negotiations each party faces considering the fundamental differences on what Democrats and Republicans believe will fix the economy.